Because you do count, Molly Hooper
by XxDreamerBabyxX
Summary: A Sherlock/Molly fic which begins the day of the Reichenbach Fall when both Molly and Sherlock's lives are changed forever. Molly is one of the few people who know that Sherlock is alive and this story explores how they both change post-reichenbach. There will be plenty of Sherlolly!
1. Chapter 1

_**This is my first attempt at writing a Sherlock fic so I hope it isn't too disastrous! I love Sherlock and although I like JohnLock fic, I love Sherlolly and I feel like there isn't enough of it out there. This is my little contribution so I hope you enjoy it. Please review and thank you for reading :)**_

To the rest of the people working in the hospital, today seemed to be like any other. None of them had any idea about what was to come. All except one. Molly took a deep breath as she thought of the task ahead, in about twenty minutes Sherlock was going to jump from the roof of St Bart's hospital and then someone would wheel his 'dead' body into the morgue and she would have to react as everyone expected her to. The plan had been prepared quickly but everything had to be right in order for it work. Molly's heart was beating rapidly as she wondered what he was doing at this exact moment. He was sketchy about exactly what was going to happen on the roof, Sherlock had said he didn't want her to know too much because it could jeopardise her own safety.

Arranging his fake death had been surprisingly easy, she sorted the body, blood packs and legal documents whilst Sherlock would do the most difficult part and fling himself from the roof. It was a crazy plan but Sherlock was adamant that it was his only option; together they ensured that it worked. Every now and then Molly glanced at the clock in the morgue until eventually the phone in the morgue rang and she was informed of what had happened to Sherlock Holmes. She wasn't a great actress but it wasn't difficult for her to feign tears. Molly cried down the phone but insisted that she should carry out the autopsy, thankfully nobody wanted to argue with her so all she had to do was wait.

Molly knew that Sherlock would be covered in blood when his body was wheeled into the morgue but still nothing could have prepared her for how totally lifeless he looked. His pale face was even paler than usual, his ice blue eyes were glazed over, and blood covered his head and drenched his dark curls. For a terrible moment Molly was almost certain that he was actually dead and she stared in horrified shock at his still form. She managed to calm herself down and set about checking his vital signs, the drug he'd taken to slow his heart was taking too long to wear off. Molly offered up a desperate, silent prayer and after a minute or so the effects of the drug did begin to wear off. Sherlock's chest slowly began to rise and fall again, the clear sign of life almost made Molly cry with relief but she held back her tears. When Sherlock opened his eyes, he began to cough loudly and savour the feeling of air reaching his lungs once more. He didn't sit up at first; instead he just stared at Molly with a level of vulnerability in his eyes that she had not witnessed before.

"Sherlock? Are you okay?" Molly asked, slowly. Sherlock smiled slightly,

"Never better Molly" he replied, his voice laced with his usual sarcastic tone. In a weird way it was comforting to Molly because it meant that he was still himself as with the heart being so slowed down there had been a risk of brain injury. "So it has worked?" Sherlock continued. Molly nodded,

"Yes you're officially dead. I have the other body ready and I just need to clean up and sign the official records." There was a long pause and Sherlock finally sat up on the metal table,

"Thank you, Molly."

"You're welcome. Do you know where you're going now?"

"I have arranged for a car to come and pick me up. I intend to head for the airport sometime next week but it is too risky before then because the damn press will be swarming everywhere."

"Okay but um I suggest that we clean the blood off you, it might draw a lot of attention." Sherlock looked down at himself as he heard her words and was suddenly aware of the distinct metallic taste of blood. He had almost forgotten the awful state he was in, his Belstaff coat was now a shade of deep burgundy and most of his face and upper body were soaked with blood. Molly brought over the change of clothes that he'd stashed in the morgue and turned her back as he began to get undressed. This amused Sherlock slightly,

"Molly I daresay you've seen enough bodies to be familiar with human anatomy, I see no reason why you are uncomfortable with seeing mine". Molly blushed furiously and turned around to face him, deliberately avoiding looking at his now exposed chest and instead looking straight into his eyes.

"I-I just thought you'd want privacy."

"Hardly matters" Sherlock stated. Once he was out of his shirt he went over to the big sink and began washing off the copious amounts of blood. Molly placed his ruined clothes onto the prepared body, in case others wished to view it. A couple of minutes of silence passed before Sherlock called from the sink, "Molly, could you help me with this? Only I've got a lot of the blood off but I can't wash it off the back of my head and neck." Molly walked over to the sink and took the sponge from him then tried her best to wash the blood off his neck. Once his neck was clean, she put her hand on his shoulder and pushed his head a bit further underneath the tap until the water rinsed the blood from his hair.

As soon his hair was clean, she turned the tap off and passed him a towel. "Thank you" Sherlock said, taking the towel and ruffling it through his hair. Sherlock got dressed into the dark jeans, t shirt and black jacket and then Molly tidied up the morgue. She signed all of the official papers, uncomfortably aware that she was breaking several laws but she kept reminding herself that it was all for him. When she'd finished, Sherlock made a call from a brand new mobile phone because he could no longer use his own and a car was on its way to collect him. Before too long the car had arrived and Sherlock smiled slightly, "Thank you Molly Hooper." Molly's heart sank at the fact that he was now leaving,

"You're welcome, I'll…um I'll m-miss you" she stuttered and before she could stop herself she'd hugged him. At first he didn't respond but then he slowly wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her gently. Molly savoured the moment and then with a final glance he had gone.


	2. Chapter 2

The morgue was silent as the clock reached 6pm, Molly sighed before putting away the case file she was examining; she couldn't focus on her work as she recalled the events of the past three weeks. Her world had been turned upside down and she felt disgustingly guilty at lying to everyone. The worst point so far had been the funeral, where she had pretended to cry and then ended up crying for real as John gave a beautiful and heart-warming speech about Sherlock. Molly had comforted John and Mrs Hudson but felt like a fraud the entire time, she had even laid a rose on Sherlock's grave to keep up the pretence.

The hospital had given her a week off as compassionate leave so she'd ended up sitting at home wondering where Sherlock was and drinking far too much. Once she'd come back to work her colleagues were all talking about Sherlock and she'd had to bite her tongue several times, in the end she ended up spending even more time alone in the morgue than usual, just to keep away from the gossip.

Molly assumed Sherlock would be out of the country by now, she hoped with all her heart that he would one day come back. It was late on a Friday night when she'd had several glasses of wine and was sat in front of her TV watching Pride and Prejudice, when she decided once and for all that she would have to make a concerted effort to move on. Molly decided to throw herself back into life and the next day she allowed her friend Kate to arrange a blind date for her.

A week later, Molly was preparing for her first night out in a long time. She got ready for her date nice and early because she'd had the day off work. Molly had her hair done a slightly lighter shade of blonde and she decided to wear a daring red dress that she'd had for a long time but had never before had the confidence to wear. It was short and tight and looked great with her black high heels. Molly applied her make up slowly and was for once she was pleased with how it turned out, a squirt of her favourite perfume finished off the look. Instead of her usual rucksack, Molly was using a dainty clutch bag and took a little satin shawl with her in case it got cold later on. She took a taxi to the restaurant and felt herself getting far more male attention than normal but instead of feeling self-conscious she held her head up and found her blind date, whose name was Carl.

Molly made an effort to be flirty and confident with her date, Carl was sweet and very polite. He worked in an office and had a dog; Molly liked the fact that he seemed so ordinary. Ordinary was just what she needed after everything that had happened and Carl didn't even seem put off by the fact that she worked in a morgue. The dinner was delicious and they both had several large glasses of wine.

Afterwards they went to a club and stayed until 2am by which point Molly felt so drunk she knew if she didn't get back soon she'd fall asleep in the street. Carl kissed her goodnight and arranged to call Molly later in the week to meet up again then they queued at the taxi rank. He lived much further away than Molly so she let him take the first cab. Molly got into the next one and gave the cabbie her address.

The taxi had been driving for about five minutes when Molly checked inside her bag and realised she had lost her purse.

"Shit!" she said under her breath, she had no cash or cards on her and she couldn't phone anyone to lend her money because her battery was dead. Molly took a deep breath and tried her best to explain to the cab driver but he immediately stopped the cab and told her to get straight out. Molly protested and offered to take his cab number so she could pay him tomorrow but he wouldn't allow it so she climbed out of the cab onto a cold, dark and completely deserted street in London.

Once the cab had driven off the road was completely still, she was near to some sort of industrial estate with large empty buildings and she shivered in her dress. The quietness scared Molly, who knew that it wasn't very safe for a woman to be walking around on her own this late at night. The walk to her flat was at least half an hour from here and her feet were tired; the only sound she heard was the clack clack of her own heels on the pavement as she walked along.

The route that she had to take was pretty lonely and Molly tried to walk fast and hope that she didn't see anyone. After ten minutes of walking, Molly wanted to cry, she was freezing cold and her feet hurt from the heels. It was only when she paused for a rest that she heard a noise in some nearby bushes, she glanced around quickly but couldn't see anything so assumed it must have been the wind. The only light on the street was from the crescent moon and Molly found herself silently counting her own footsteps to calm herself down. Suddenly she heard another noise and gradually realised that there was another set of footsteps approaching her from behind, Molly was too afraid to look around so she began to walk quicker.

The footsteps grew closer and closer and Molly noticed a long shadow looming, it appeared to be man, her heart was beating incredibly fast as she thought about what to do. Any moment now this man could grab her and nobody would be around to hear her screams. Molly was gripped with intense fear...


	3. Chapter 3

Molly considered what to do next, she knew that there was no point in trying to run when the man was so close so her best shot would be trying to fight back even though deep down she knew that it would be futile. Her heart was beating crazily fast as she tried to force herself to stay calm.

Out of the corner of her eye, Molly saw a long arm reaching out to grab her and she yelled,

"Touch me at all and I'll hit you. I'm warning you I know self-defence!" Her voice sounded awfully desperate as she thought of all the terrible things that might be about to happen to her.

"That's good Molly but I don't think you need to use your self-defence tactics tonight" Molly gasped in complete shock and turned around as she came face to face with Sherlock Holmes. Instantly her fear dissipated,

"Sherlock!" she cried, never more glad to see him than in that moment.

"Shh" he said, quietly, "I'm supposed to be dead." Molly smiled brightly as she looked at him properly. His hair was the same but he'd put a cap on his head to disguise it and he was wearing a black leather jacket with a blue scarf.

"What are you doing here?" Molly asked.

"I could ask you the same question" he replied, glancing down at Molly's attire.

"I went on a date and I got in a taxi to go home but realised I'd lost my purse so the driver chucked me out and I've had to walk" Molly explained. Sherlock tutted, he was actually quite disgusted by the cab driver's behaviour. Crime statistics clearly showed that Molly was at a high risk of being attacked in the circumstances she had found herself in. He was pleased with himself that he had been keeping up to date with her movements. "How come you're around here?" Molly continued. Sherlock shrugged non-committedly,

"I was doing some work in the area and realised it was you walking along by yourself. You work in a morgue Molly; you must know how many young women get attacked walking alone at night." Sherlock missed out the fact that he'd seen Molly get out of the taxi and had in fact been following her all the way, making sure nobody approached her.

"I know" Molly nodded, "but I didn't really have a choice" she shivered as a gust of wind hit. Sherlock noticed and silently pulled off his jacket, placing it around her shoulders.

"Better?"

"Thank you, Sherlock" she smiled, rather surprised at his gentlemanly behaviour.

"Shall we keep walking?" he suggested and Molly nodded then asked,

"Where are you going?"

"Firstly I am taking you back to your flat then I don't know". Molly was pleased, she felt safe next to Sherlock, especially as they walked onto a busier street and some cars beeped at her on account of her short dress.

The walk back was quite slow because Molly's feet were aching badly and she was fairly drunk, although the cold air was helping her to sober up a bit. They chatted a bit about everything that had happened since Sherlock's 'death', mostly Sherlock wanted to know if people had asked her for information. Molly told him about the few journalists who had been sniffing around and then told him how John, Lestrade and Mrs Hudson were coping. Sherlock looked sad when she mentioned John so Molly changed the subject and asked him how much progress he was making in finding Moriarty's people. Eventually they reached her door and Molly thanked Sherlock for walking her home. She took off his jacket to give it back to him and Sherlock turned to go but Molly called after him,

"Where will you go tonight?" There was a long pause,

"I well I'm not sure" Sherlock answered, honestly, he was planning on walking about until it got light then he would go and stake out the house of a relative to one of the assassins. Molly shook her head; she didn't want him walking around in the middle of the night especially when it was cold.

"Why don't you sleep here tonight? You're very welcome, I mean on the sofa, I-I wasn't saying…" Molly trailed off, hoping that Sherlock hadn't gathered the wrong impression. She expected him to refuse but instead he smiled a little,

"That would be wonderful, Molly".

They went into the flat and Molly yanked her heels off, relieved to finally be free of them. It was 3am by now and she was absolutely shattered. Sherlock sat down on Molly's sofa and looked around her little living room, it was different to how he'd imagined and far more modern, although very feminine. The furniture was cheap but matched well and he found the cream and pale pink colour scheme to be mildly relaxing. Molly got a spare blanket out of the cupboard and put it on the sofa for Sherlock, before going into the kitchen.

"Would you like a drink of hot chocolate?" she asked, Molly always had to have hot chocolate when she came home late, especially if she'd had a lot to drink. Sherlock considered this but decided on a black coffee instead. Molly made the drinks and then they sat down together on the sofa. Sherlock was still quite awake and asked Molly for her thoughts on a case that had been in the news for a couple of days. Molly yawned her way through the answers she gave and Sherlock was in the middle of asking her about a recent autopsy she'd done, when he realised she'd fallen asleep.

"Molly?" he called out, trying to wake her but she was sound asleep.

Sherlock pondered over what to do next, he could leave her on the sofa but she wouldn't be comfortable sitting up and besides he was supposed to sleep there. Eventually he decided to go and place her in her bed so he put an arm around her back and one underneath her knees then lifted her up. Molly was surprisingly light and hardly stirred as Sherlock carried out her through the flat and into her bedroom. He placed her down on the bed but realised she was still wearing her red dress and wouldn't be comfortable. For a moment he thought about whether he should take the dress off for her but something told him she's be angry if he did so instead he just undid the zip to make it looser. Then he pulled back the cover and tucked her in, smiling at her for a reason he himself didn't understand. He had never seen Molly Hooper asleep; she looked fragile like a doll. Sherlock left the room and closed the door. The sofa was more comfortable than he'd previously thought and he fell asleep easily, more easily than he had in a long time.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Sorry for the long delay, I've had a bit of a mad week! I hope you enjoy this chapter, reviews push me to write more so please review if you want to :)**_

Molly woke up just after 8:30am and for a split second she had no idea where she was, then she realised she was in her bedroom. Her head was aching badly from the fresh hangover and she made a mental note not to drink for a long time. Molly slowly sat up in bed and pulled back the covers but she couldn't remember actually getting into bed the night before, the last thing she remembered was sitting on the sofa with… _Sherlock! _she suddenly thought, having completely forgotten that he'd stayed the night in her flat. Molly got out of bed then noticed that she was still wearing last night's red dress but the zip was almost completely undone, she guessed she must have undone it and fallen into bed in a drunken stupor but she wasn't entirely sure.

Molly took the dress off and put her dressing gown on then opened her bedroom door to find that the flat was silent. It wasn't unlike Sherlock to leave without saying goodbye so Molly wasn't too surprised, however as she walked into the living room Molly noticed Sherlock's black shoes on the floor and then realised that he was lying on the sofa. His head was resting on a cream cushion, with his dark curls splayed across it and his eyes were closed, Sherlock was clearly fast asleep. His legs were slightly bent because they were too long to properly stretch on the sofa, he'd placed his jacket over the side of the sofa and undone more than a few buttons on his purple shirt. For once it didn't look like he was thinking, his face was a total picture of calmness. Molly watched as his chest rose and fell peacefully, he'd looked as if he'd needed a good rest. Sherlock seemed even more human somehow when he was asleep, vulnerable even. She didn't want to wake him up so she decided to go and take a shower.

Sherlock awoke to the odd feeling of something pressing down on his chest, he opened one eye cautiously and came face to face with a black and white cat. The cat had settled down on his chest and was casually licking it's front paws, Sherlock judged that the cat must belong to Molly. He shifted and moved to sit up, the cat meowed in annoyance as Sherlock sat up but then refused to budge from Sherlock's lap. Sherlock yawned and sighed in annoyance but begrudgingly allowed the cat to remain there.

"Where's Molly?" He wondered aloud, laughing as the cat stared at him knowingly. Sherlock listened carefully then realised he could hear water falling. _She's in the shower, _he deduced. He felt better this morning, his brain seemed even more alert, perhaps the sleep had benefited him after all. Sherlock was considering all the different ways he could trace Moriarty's connections in the criminal underworld, whilst he absentmindedly began to gently stroke the cat.

Once Molly had finished her shower, she got dressed and fixed her hair a little bit. She found herself making slightly more effort than she normally would on her day off, most likely because Sherlock was in her flat. Molly brushed through her hair, leaving it loose and applied a minimal amount of make up. She briefly wondered what she would be doing today, usually her days off were pretty quiet and she'd stay in relaxing or occasionally meet a friend for some shopping. Molly went back into the living room and was greeted with the unexpected sight of Sherlock making a fuss of her cat Toby, who was sitting contendedly on Sherlock's lap and purring whilst his chin was tickled.

"Good morning. Having fun?" Molly said, smiling at the sight. Sherlock looked up at Molly,

"I seem to have made a new aquaintance". Molly laughed, it was interesting to see a different side to Sherlock.

"That's Toby." Sherlock did a half-smile at the name, funnily enough it seemed to suit the cat very well.

"Would you like some breakfast?" Molly asked.

"No just a coffee please" Sherlock replied. Molly headed into the kitchen, put the kettle on and then put some bread in the toaster. She decided to make some extra toast in case Sherlock changed his mind about not wanting any breakfast, Molly had noticed that Sherlock had a tendency to pick at food as opposed to eating a full meal. Occasionally he'd taken sneaky grabs of Molly's lunch whilst she'd been on lunch breaks at work so she thought it best to make extra. Once she'd finished making the toast and making the coffee exactly the way Sherlock liked it, Molly carried it all back into the lounge on a tray and placed it down on the glass coffee table in front of the sofa. She sat down beside Sherlock, feeling a little less self-conscious around him than she usually did because they were in her flat.

Sherlock picked up his drink and took a long sip of coffee, he didn't realise until then just how much he'd missed someone making him coffee. He'd originally been intending to leave London as soon as possible but he'd realised that many of the people working for Moriarty were still very much in the capital so Sherlock had been hiding out in derelict buildings around London and spending nights in bed and breakfasts where he was less likely to be recognised. It had been difficult for him to adapt to, he missed the home comforts and companionship that he'd had less than a month before.

Molly ate her toast slowly, enjoying the fact that she didn't have to rush her breakfast and dash off to the morgue.

"What are you going to do today?" Molly asked. Sherlock thought for a moment, he had several routes of enquiry that he intended to pursue but he had yet to decide which one should come first.

"I haven't made up my mind yet, Molly" Sherlock answered and then reached over for a slice of toast that Molly hadn't eaten, realising that he was actually quite peckish. He was nibbling at the toast when he frowned very slightly, "You've made extra toast."

"I know...I just thought you would probably decide to have some".

"Why?"

"Well um sometimes at Barts I noticed that you seem to take bits of food when you've already said you don't want any." Sherlock was somewhat suprised that Molly had noted his eating habits, it gave him an odd feeling though it was not an uncomfortable one.

"Good deduction Molly" he stated, taking another bite of the toast. They both ate breakfast and sat in silence for a little while because Sherlock appeared to be deep in thought; Molly knew it was best not to disturb him whilst he was thinking. Almost ten minutes later, Sherlock had made up his mind about his plans for the day and wanted to ask Molly a question.


End file.
